Editing Romansh language (section)

== Morphology ==
The following description deals mainly with the Sursilvan dialect, which is the best-studied so far. The dialects Putèr and Vallader of the Engadine valley in particular diverge considerably from Sursilvan in many points. When possible, such differences are described.

Nouns are not inflected for case in Romansh; the grammatical category is expressed through word order instead. As in most other Romance languages, Romansh nouns belong to two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. A definite article (masc. {{lang|rm|il}} or {{lang|rm|igl}} before a vowel; fem. {{lang|rm|la}}) is distinguished from an indefinite article (masc. {{lang|rm|in}}, {{lang|rm|egn}}, {{lang|rm|en}} or {{lang|rm|ün}}, depending on the dialect; fem. {{lang|rm|ina}}, {{lang|rm|egna}}, {{lang|rm|ena}} or {{lang|rm|üna}}). The plural is usually formed by adding the suffix -s. In Sursilvan, masculine nouns are sometimes irregular, with the stem vowel alternating:
* {{lang|rm|il mir}} "the wall" – {{lang|rm|ils mirs}} "the walls".
* {{lang|rm|la casa}} "the house" – {{lang|rm|las casas}} "the houses".
* irregular: {{lang|rm|igl iev}} "the egg" – {{lang|rm|ils ovs}} "the eggs".

A particularity of Romansh is the so-called "collective plural" to refer to a mass of things as a whole:
* {{lang|rm|il crap}} "the stone" – {{lang|rm|ils craps}} "the stones".
* collective: {{lang|rm|la crappa}} "rock".

Adjectives are inflected according to gender and number. Feminine forms are always regular, but the stem vowel sometimes alternates in the masculine forms:
* fem. {{lang|rm|bial}} (sg.) – {{lang|rm|biala}} (pl.) "good"
* masc. {{lang|rm|bien}} (sg.) – {{lang|rm|buns}} (pl.) "good".

Sursilvan also distinguishes an attributive and predicative form of adjectives in the singular. This is not found in some of the other dialects:
* Attributive: {{lang|rm|in bien carstgaun}} "a good human (person)"
* Predicative : {{lang|rm|il carstgaun ei buns}} "the human (person) is good"

There are three singular and three plural pronouns in Romansh (Sursilvan forms shown below):
 {| class="wikitable"
|-
!
!sg.
!pl.
|-
| 1st person || {{lang|rm|jeu}} || {{lang|rm|nus}}
|-
| 2nd person || {{lang|rm|ti}} || {{lang|rm|vus}}
|-
| 3rd person || {{lang|rm|el}}/{{lang|rm|ella}}/{{lang|rm|ei(igl)}} || {{lang|rm|els}}/{{lang|rm|ellas}}/{{lang|rm|ei}}
|}
There is a [[T–V distinction]] between familiar {{lang|rm|ti}} and polite {{lang|rm|vus}}. Putèr and Vallader distinguish between familiar {{lang|rm|tü}} and {{lang|rm|vus}} and polite {{lang|rm|El}}/{{lang|rm|Ella}} and {{lang|rm|Els}}/{{lang|rm|Ellas}}. Pronouns for the polite forms in Putèr and Vallader are always capitalized to distinguish them from third person pronouns: {{lang|rm|Eau cugnuosch a Sia sour}} "I know your sister" and {{lang|rm|Eau cugnuosch a sia sour}} "I know his/her sister".

The 1st and 2nd person pronouns for a direct object have two distinct forms, with one occurring following the preposition {{lang|rm|a}}: {{lang|rm|dai a mi tiu codisch}} "give me your book".

A particularity of Sursilvan is that reflexive verbs are all formed with the reflexive pronoun {{lang|rm|se-}}, which was originally only the third person pronoun:
* {{lang|rm|jeu selavel}} "I am washing myself".
* {{lang|rm|ti selaves}} "you are washing yourself".
* {{lang|rm|el/ella selava}} "he/she is washing her/himself".
* {{lang|rm|nus selavein}} "we are washing ourselves".
* {{lang|rm|els/ellas selavan}} "they are washing themselves".

The other Romansh dialects distinguish different reflexive pronouns.

Possessive pronouns occur in a pronominal and a predicative form that differ only in the masculine form, however:

* {{lang|rm|miu tgaun}} "my dog" – {{lang|rm|il tgaun ei mes}} "the dog is mine".
* {{lang|rm|vies problem}} "your problem" – {{lang|rm|quei problem ei vos}} "that problem is yours".
The feminine remains the same: {{lang|rm|sia casa}} "her/his house" – {{lang|rm|quella casa ei sia}} "this house is hers/his".

Three different demonstrative pronouns {{lang|rm|quel}}, {{lang|rm|tschel}}, and {{lang|rm|lez}} are distinguished: {{lang|rm|A quel fidel jeu, a tschel buc}} "I trust that one, but not that other one" or {{lang|rm|Ed il bab, tgei vegn lez a dir?}} "and the father, what is he going to say?".

Verb tenses are divided into synthetic forms (present, imperfect) and analytic forms (perfect, pluperfect, future, passive) distinguished by the grammatical moods [[Indicative mood|indicative]], [[Subjunctive mood|subjunctive]], [[Conditional mood|conditional]], and [[Imperative mood|imperative]]. These are most common forms in Sursilvan:

{| class="wikitable"
!Tense
!Example
!Translation
|-
| Indicative present|| {{lang|rm|jeu '''sun''' da Trun}} || "I am from Trun"
|-
| Indicative perfect|| {{lang|rm|jeu '''sun staus''' en vacanzas}} || "I have been on vacation"
|-
| Imperfect || {{lang|rm|da quei '''savevel''' jeu nuot}} || "I didn't know anything about that"
|-
| Future|| {{lang|rm|els '''vegnan a dir'''}} || "they will say"
|-
| Imperative || {{lang|rm|'''cantei'''!}} || "sing!"
|-
| Conditional || {{lang|rm|jeu '''durmess'''}} || "I would sleep"
|}